[qusp]

except the es9023 isnt a balanced dac…

 

[zzffnn]

@ seeteeyou,
 
That Rikomagic MK802ii looks interesting. However, it may not have enough processing power to run big hard drives/SSDs. SSDs are still quite expensive nowadays.
 
I am not sure about that particular DAC or the amp. There is no indication that they will sound better than an IOS device and/or some popular DAC/amp here.
 
You know what I really want? A Sansa Clip/Fuze type of player with big internal SSD (>500GB) as storage. The sound quality of Sansa Clip or Fuze is already very good (just add an external amp and you are good). Since Sandisk also produces SSDs, I would not be surprised if Sandisk releases something similar soon. 
 
Since this is a niche market, I am not sure what you proposed here can get enough funds through kickstarter. That Rikomagic miniPC may have problem to run big storage or USB DAC.

 

[zzffnn]

@ qusp,
 
I am so glad to have you here. Please feel free to comment on any post here. You surely have the technical know-how. 
 
What do you think about my idea of:
streaming flac from Patriot Gauntlet Node w/ 1TB HDD -> SAMBA -> Oplayer -> iPhone
 
Please see my post #49, #58 and #59 for details. Thanks!

 

[Thraex]

Regarding streaming high res lossless files up till now I was able to stream bit-perfect 24 bit / 96 Khz files only with iTunes Home Sharing and ALAC files (so no FLACs) using iPad (so with its built in music player) + Camera Connection Kit + USB battery powered HUB (D-Tech or Tekkeon for example because not all USB chargers pass data too) + some portable USB DACs like my iBasso D7 (they need to comunicate to iPad that they've a powered USB and are driverless or they won't work. Even some desktop powered USB DACs like my M2Tech Young won't work).
 
The success of another approach could only be checked/tested with iPad/CCK and some USB DACs which display bit/sample rate effectively received (example here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Modabpck0Q ). Or without CCK using the Fostex HP-P1 or Cypher Labs Solo via their digital out to those DACs able to display bit/freq received (but these last two configs still need to be confirmed even if Solo officially support 24bit for iPad: FAQ not Manual at page 7 http://cypherlabs.com/images/pdfs/Cypher_Labs_AlgoRhythm_Solo_FAQ.pdf ).
 
PlugPlayer for iPad with UpnP servers (I've tested JRiver, Asset, Foobar,... with various streaming settings, file types and configs) only works in the sense that high resolution files are played, but data are always downsampled to 16/44 when received by the external USB DAC!
 
Let us know please if anyone is able to stream high resolution files to iPad + CCK not downsampled in any point in the chain and without using iTunes Home Sharing.
If the iPad could be used with bit-perfect 24/96 streaming and a portable high storage wi-fi device it could be a dream come true!
If we want the best sound quality we must start with the best source possible = digital files.
 
 
Thanks and regards.

 

[Thraex]

I've started another thread in case anyone is interested in 24 bit portability with iPad or other iDevices:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/625493/ipad-with-24-bit-files-high-storage-capacity-portability-which-configuration-works-without-downsampling

 

[zzffnn]

^ Sorry, I did not mean to ignore you there.

However, I can not help you, as I do not have a device or dac that can display bit/frequency received. Don't think I will buy one either as my ears/gears are not good enough to tell 16 bit vs 24 bit.

You indicated in your own thread that iPod Claasic 160GB can play 24 bit without downsampling. Are you sure about it? You can rockbox iPod 7G to play flac but you will lose its digital output. Maybe just change to a 256GB SSD and add an external amp through LOD. Personally, in portable usage of iDevices, I would not carry a pile of bricks to extract digital output to an external dac. I had HM801 before but hate its size so much that I did not use it much. YMMV of course.

 

[zzffnn]

Next week I am going to order that portable NAS (Patriot Gauntlet Node) along with a 1TB 2.5" hard drive (see page 4 of this thread for details). I will report back about SAMBA streaming flac to iPhone 3GS and iPad 1.

 

[Thraex]

Quote:

You indicated in your own thread that iPod Claasic 160GB can play 24 bit without downsampling. Are you sure about it?

"My iPod Classic 160GB (upgrade to 256GB SSD is possible too) works at 24 bit / 48 Khz which is the limit of playable loaded files, but not a single config is confirmed working without downsampling to 16 bit."
 
I mean the iPod will downsample to 16 bit with any configuration used (CLAS or other). It works in the sense that you can load and play 24 /48 files, but it will downsample before feeding the DAC any higher resolution than 16 bit.
I'll reelaborate my statement to be more clear.
 
Rgards
 

 

[saeyedoc]

You should be able to get hi-res (up to 24/96) USB output using LMS on the server end and ipeng with playback activated on the ipad, along with the CCK. 

 

[Thraex]

Quote:

You should be able to get hi-res (up to 24/96) USB output using LMS on the server end and ipeng with playback activated on the ipad, along with the CCK. 

Thanks for that again, it works.
Results and updates in the new thread I've started focused only on 24 bit perfect streaming with iDevices here http://www.head-fi.org/t/625493/ipad-with-24-bit-files-high-storage-capacity-portability-which-configuration-works-without-downsampling .

 

[zzffnn]

Yes, I have success!!
 
I have used:
Patriot Gauntlet Node (portable battery-powered NAS) -> SAMBA streaming -> AcePlayer Pro app -> iPhone 3GS w/ IOS 5.
 
This is the portable NAS Patriot Gauntlet Node (PGN), whose size is a little bigger than Objective2 amp or HM801:

 
 
The above setting can (pros):
1) store and play up to 2TB of flac
2) output digital (via Pure i20 coax/optical) to an external DAC
3) stream 24 bit / 96 kHz flac songs (the largest flac I tried was 172mb in size and 3058 kbps). But I am not sure if down-sampling occurs during playback.
4) perform reasonably like an iTouch minus album art (can do auto next, next/previous song, fast forward/rewind, background play with screen off).
5) display all album structures correctly (including sub folders).
 
The cons/bad:
1) no album art
2) no gapleess playback. Gap is 1.5 - 3 seconds long depending on the size/bitrate of flac. Gap is longer than Rockboxed Clip during playback.
3) start-up time is 2 minutes in total. The NAS takes about 40 sec to boot to NAS mode, then you may need to set up bridge mode using the Gauntlet Connect app (if you want streaming music and internet at the same time on your iPhone). Without setting up bridge mode, PGN still works as a music/file server (for this mode, only 1.5 min is needed from powering on to playing a song).
4) when screen is off, iPhone 3GS (IOS 5) will stop playing, so screen has to stay on. Although the app can run in the background w/o problem.
5) There is slight/discrete noise produced during screen activities (e.g., scrolling down a long page). High resolution playback seems to be affected more.
 
Additional notes:
1) I have tried GoodPlayer and OPlayer as well. GoodPlayer did not work. OPlayer is tooooo slow (gap is longer, although it shows album arts).
2) You can format the hard drive in Patriot Gauntlet Node (PGN) as Fat32 to allow compatibility between Mac and PC.
3) The hard drive you use for PGN has to be a laptop type 2.5'' that is no ticker than 9mm.
4) Use "10.10.10.254" as the address for PGN and set up account name and password in PGN's Gauntlet Connect app.
5) The PGN works as a files server as well. The Gauntlet Connect app works with all my doc, pdf, xls, ppt or jpg files.
6) iPhone 3GS with IOS 4.0.1 also works with AcePlayer. But non-music file sharing is not available though the Gauntlet Connect app (which requires >= IOS 4.3).
 
I have updated the title of the thread and post the above details at post #2 on page 1.
 
Edit: I have loaded 300 GB to the PGN. So far so good. One of my 24/192 album did not play (not sure if it is software or hardware limitation). 24/88 plays fine, as well as one huge flac file (67 min / 500MB).

 

[NZtechfreak]

Nice, thanks for the update.

 

[seeteeyou]

.

 

[KilltheFAT]

Quote:

Patriot Gauntlet Node (portable battery-powered NAS) -> SAMBA streaming -> AcePlayer Pro app -> iPhone 3GS w/ IOS 5.
 
 
2) You can format the hard drive in Patriot Gauntlet Node (PGN) as Fat32 to allow compatibility between Mac and PC.
 

 
+ Consider NFSv4 [tcp] instead of samba?
 
http://blog.nigelpoulton.com/nfsv4/
 
+ for the love of good, let FAT die!  Both OSX and windows have a myriad of f/OSS applications to allow R/W access to EXT2 (or higher)
 
 
 
Quote:

Edit: the following gear in this post would not work.
 
I saw this tiny CloudFTP device. It is only $99, truely portable (powered by battery), can work as USB host and power an external hard drive and stream music/movie via FTP to IOS or Android portables.
 

 
 

 
+ You my friend might enjoy tinkering with a Raspberry Pi ($35, wifi add'l)
 
http://raspberrypi.org
 
 
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/5167/raspberrypi21.jpg
 

 
 
( http://xbian.org/  or choose your SD image flavor or roll your own)
 
 
Full ninja (Rii keyboards are POS.  You want iPazzPort)
http://www.skpang.co.uk/blog/archives/541
 
 

 
http://unisen-usa.com/Mini-Wireless-Keyboards.html
 
 
Quote:

Please Note:  Each Android is rooted with a CIFS-supported kernel with CIFS Manager installed.  The methods below should be possible on 
 
 
Lastly, the icing on the cake-- VPN!
 
TIPS:
1.  On some Androids, I disable Media Scanning (with Rescan Media Root) so its not scanning terabytes of stuff over WiFi at bootup. 
 

 
* yeah adhoc.  See also PAN below.
 
- hooray custom kernels.  Not-android users must constrain shopping list to those which are capable.  Not all root'd phones can run custom kernels -- unless you want to play in the hot sand with kexec
 
+ NFSv4 VPN too
 
+ instead of nuking media scanner outright "touch .nomedia" in each directory you wish to be not-scanned
 
 
 
 
Quote:

2.  Use of WiFi tether app for infrastructure mode and changing IP tables to allow a SMB share server on the same device.
 
 

 
scopes?
 
BlueTooth PAN  
 
 
Quote:

 
A rather expensive and promising product with both USB as well as powered eSATA here:
 
 
XFS file system could be the best bet in terms of read/write performance.
 
 

 
decent but not so much.  "demand" developers pay the tiny difference (and pass it to you) to have "power over eSata": one port that accepts USB3 or eSata.
 
freeNAS(ZFS)   ftw
 
 
Quote:

2) The maximum streaming speed is around 2MB/s (a little over 2000 kbps). Its sustained speed streaming speed is about 1500 kbps. Up to 8 devices can be used with the Node without buffering.
 
 

 
fabric limits?

 

[KilltheFAT]

P.S.
 
Are you aware that Amazon provides actually-free 10 gigs of 'cloud' storage [to USA citizens]  5 in S3, another 5 in cloud drive.  Couple that with 2 from Ubuntu One.   Sure there are other seemingly freebies but these companies, especially the former, dig in for the long play.
 
A little more AWS geekery can avoid initial S3 trauma.